Placement Report Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland Department: Regional Development and Sustainable Mobility

Placement Report

Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland

Department: Regional Development and Sustainable Mobility

Sonja Rijsbosch

Ma International Relations – general track Student number: 2676974

Student mail: s.e.rijsbosch@student.rug.nl

Placement coordinator RUG: Sonia Mascarell Ordovas

Supervisor placement provider: Paulien Officier

Table of contents

1. Introduction ……….. p. 2 2. Description of RVO ………. p. 4 3. Role and placement activities ……….. p. 5

3.1 Tasks and activities………. p. 5

3.2 Evaluation of working attitude and supervision………. p. 6 4. Self-reflection ………. p. 8

4.1 Starting point………... p. 8

4.2 Personal learning process during the placement………. p. 8

4.3 Impact placement on career path ……… p. 10

5. Conclusion ………... p. 12

1. Introduction

In September I started my placement at Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (RVO), translated Netherlands Enterprise Agency, at the department of Regional Development and Sustainable Mobility (ROM). In this introduction I elaborate on why I chose this particular placement, the preparation for my placement and my expectations prior to starting.

I chose to do my placement at RVO for several reasons. First of all, I came into contact with the organization because of a friend that recently started working at a different RVO

department. She enthused me tremendously with her positive stories about the nice and open working atmosphere and the interesting international areas in which RVO is active.

Second, when reading more about the organization, I became interested in the field of activity of RVO. RVO is an organization that operates at the intersection of policy and

implementation. During my master I was already considering whether I would rather work at policy level or more actively ‘on the ground’. RVO provided the perfect opportunity to explore both options. Furthermore, I thought that this combination would provide for a dynamic and diverse field of work.

Third, after several phone calls I found out that the RVO department of Regional

Development and Sustainable Mobility especially matched my interests and ambitions. This department aims to increase sustainability in different sectors at national, European and global level. Combatting climate change is a highly relevant and challenging topic, but I had learned little on this subject in the IR master. Furthermore, sustainability is one of the most prominent topics in the field of European and international cooperation. This placement offered the opportunity to both learn about, and contribute to, national and international policies that combat climate change.

Luckily, the arrangement and preparation for the placement went very smoothly. Through my friend, I came into contact with Saskia Hallenga, the manager of the ROM department.

Although there were no internship vacancies online, I decided to call with Saskia to discuss the possibilities. I was well-prepared for interview questions and full of enthusiasm during our first Skype conversation, which resulted in the affirmation that I could start as an intern in September. During several follow-up conversations, subsequent arrangements regarding my tasks, financial compensation and supervision were discussed. I was given a lot of space to think along with Saskia about the content of the placement. Based on my interests in international affairs relating to sustainability, it was decided that I would focus on two different programs during my placement; The LIFE program & the Integrated Approach to Sustainable Mobility (IADM) program. These two programs both have a large international element. I was also introduced to Paulien Officier, the manager of both programs, who became my placement supervisor.

My expectations prior to starting the placement were full of mixed feelings. On the one hand, I expected to learn a lot from this internship. I was very excited to start applying my

theoretical knowledge in practice. I also looked forward to gaining more understanding of

national and international policy development and implementation, especially on the topic of

sustainability. On the other hand, I was quite nervous about starting my placement online.

Due to the covid crisis, I would work completely from my home in Amsterdam for the entire

four month placement period. I was worried this would make my experience more difficult

and less satisfying. Luckily, only my positive expectations became reality. My placement was

a big success, and it has even resulted in a new job! In this placement report, I will elaborate

on this.

2. Description of RVO

In this section, I shortly describe the nature, objectives and structure of RVO and the department of Regional Development and Sustainable Mobility (ROM).

RVO is a government agency that operates at national and international level. The Dutch government aims to create an excellent business climate. The Dutch ministries set out the policies to achieve this. The task of implementing these policies lies with RVO. RVO is officially part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policies, but carries out assignments commissioned by all Dutch ministries, local authorities and the European Union.

The main objective of RVO is to make the Netherlands economically stronger and more sustainable. It also aims to make a positive impact on a diverse range of social issues at national and international level, based on the 17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations. To achieve these objectives, RVO works for, and with, a wide range of clients and partners, such as companies, citizens, policymakers, local authorities, knowledge institutions and NGO’s. In short; RVO supports anyone that is working on an economically stronger society. It focuses especially on the fields of sustainability, international business and development, agriculture and innovation. RVO connects and inspires companies, financial institutions, embassies and local authorities worldwide. It also provides expertise and information, for example about sustainable solutions, other countries and financial arrangements. Furthermore, RVO works towards creating a level playing field by implementing laws, regulations and subsidies.

RVO has more than 4500 employees, spread over six locations in the Netherlands. Its work is

divided into six managing boards, such as National Programs, International Programs and

European Core Processes. The ROM department falls within the managing board National

Programs, though its activities have many international elements as well. This department

focuses on regional development in Europe and on the subject of sustainable mobility in the

Netherlands and abroad. There are currently around 30 employees active in this department,

who work on a broad variety of programs. Sustainability, livability and (social) innovations

have a central role in these programs. The ROM department is located in Utrecht and mostly

carries out assignments for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.

3. Role and placement activities

During my placement, I worked on two programs; The LIFE program & the Integrated Approach to Sustainable Mobility (IADM) program. In this section, I provide a

comprehensive description of all my undertaken activities and tasks for these two programs.

Furthermore, I elaborate on my working attitude and the supervision I received during my placement. In the subsequent chapter, I self-reflect on the impact of these tasks on my personal learning process.

3.1 Tasks and activities

The LIFE program is a subsidy program of the European Union (EU). The EU aims to support innovative projects that support the EU’s nature, environmental and climate policy objectives.

The task of the RVO LIFE team is to promote the LIFE program in the Netherlands and to support Dutch organizations with the subsidy application process. For this program, my role was to carry out several analyses in light of the new LIFE program period 2021-2027. Every seven years, the LIFE program is modified by the EU, to better reflect its current goals. The LIFE team gave me the task to find out several consequences of these changes.

Therefore, I independently carried out the following tasks.

First of all, I conducted extensive research on relevant European Green Deal policy

documents and translated this into useful information and advice for the LIFE team and the LIFE website. The new modified LIFE program is going to be highly influenced by the goals set out in the new European Green Deal. The Green Deal is the new growth strategy to make the EU’s economy sustainable. Under the Green Deal, the EU publishes a series of strategies that set specific sustainability and climate targets per sector. I analyzed five Green Deal strategies, namely; the Farm to Fork strategy, the 2030 Biodiversity Strategy, the European Industrial Strategy, the European Strategy on Energy System Integration and the European Hydrogen Strategy. By cross-checking each strategy with the new LIFE program, I translated these strategies into relevant information and advice for LIFE project proposals. I gave five presentations on these analyses to the LIFE team. The LIFE team was very enthusiastic about my work. Therefore, my five analyses are all going to be published on the new RVO LIFE website for 2021.

Second, I conducted a stakeholder analysis for the LIFE program with regard to its new European trajectory. Based on my Green Deal research, I provided an overview of 42 relevant organizations that are not yet part of the LIFE contact list. The LIFE team will contact these organizations in 2021.

Third, I conducted a strategic analysis of all Dutch LIFE projects from 2014 until 2019. I created an overview of relevant information about each project. This analysis was not only shared with my LIFE team, but also send to several ministries. Furthermore, I selected several

‘star’ projects: successful and interesting projects that show the scope and value of LIFE.

These star projects are going to be published on the new website as well.

I carried out the abovementioned tasks fully independent and I needed little guidance in the

process. When I had questions, I could always contact my supervisor. I did attend the LIFE

team meetings every week. During these team meetings, I often shared my findings.

The Integrated Approach to Sustainable Mobility program (IADM) is a new program that started in the beginning of September. The aim of this program is to provide an overview of the entire social task around sustainable mobility and to see whether the knowledge and experience available throughout RVO can be used more integrally. My role was to generally assist in the development of this new program. I took on many tasks and I was considered part of the core team.

First, I conducted an analysis of the relevant international RVO assignments on sustainable mobility. Following this analysis, a colleague and I mapped out all RVO programs around sustainable mobility. While there are many programs that focus on sustainable mobility throughout the entire organization, an overview of all programs was still missing. We created a visual interactive map of these programs, which will be shared with relevant colleagues from RVO and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.

Second, I conducted 32 interviews with RVO colleagues in the field of sustainable mobility.

These interviews were conducted in order to gain insight into the national and international challenges in the transition to sustainable mobility, the role of RVO in this transition and the specific needs of RVO colleagues. I analyzed these interviews, and gave a large presentation about the findings to the relevant RVO experts. The analysis of the interviews is also used for the further design of the program.

Third, I helped in shaping the ambitions and plans for the program. During our weekly team meetings, I participated in many strategic discussions. I also participated in several other cross-team meetings that helped shape this program. As a result, I received exciting information at the end of my internship. As part of my new job, I am appointed program secretary of the IADM program.

Besides my tasks for these two programs, I have participated in several other activities to get to know RVO as an organization and to connect with colleagues. First of all, I participated in several online webinars and lunch discussions for my future professional orientation. RVO is a large organization that operates in many different fields. In order to maintain connections between different sectors and to share knowledge, many RVO teams offer webinars and lunch discussions. I have followed around 20 webinars focusing on international RVO activities.

Furthermore, I organized a lunch for RVO interns. During this lunch, we shared our

experiences, built up a network and learned more about different fields of work. Lastly, I had many phone calls and online get-togethers with colleagues from my department. During these activities, I built up professional and personal connections.

I very much enjoyed performing the above mentioned activities and tasks. What I found especially interesting and educational was the broad range of tasks, that challenged me on different levels. In the next chapter, I will elaborate on this.

3.2 Evaluation of working attitude and supervision

I believe I had a good working attitude during my placement. I have worked hard,

independent, precise and with a lot of enthusiasm. The above list of completed activities also

shows this. Furthermore, I have received very positive feedback about my working attitude.

My supervisor was very enthusiastic about my proactive attitude and the independence with which I performed the tasks. All my executed tasks were of added value to the LIFE and IADM team and many of my analyses are now used and deployed in these teams.

What helped me a lot during my internship was the great supervision I received. While I

performed many tasks independently, my supervisor Paulien Officier helped me a lot with

finding my way. First of all, she has been very friendly and helpful. Because I started working

from home, she called me almost every day during the first month of my placement. Also, I

could always call her with questions or for advice. Furthermore, she went to great lengths to

make the placement as interesting as possible for me. For instance, she involved me in all

kinds of meetings, webinars and tasks that she thought would be educational or fun. She often

asked for my opinion and encouraged me to take initiative. I also learned a lot from working

with her, as she shared her experiences and advice.

4 Self-reflection

In this chapter, I self-reflect on the personal learning process I have undergone during my placement. I first look back at my expectations and what I was looking for. Thereafter, I elaborate on how this placement helped me to achieve my professional and personal learning objectives. This section includes reflections on how my placement experiences have given me a better understanding of my own strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, I expand on how I gained insight into the connection between the theory from my IR studies and my placement.

Lastly, I reflect on how my placement has impacted my future career path.

4.1 Starting point

I wrote my Placement Plan in August. In this plan, I set out my four most important personal learning objectives. First, I wanted to increase confidence in myself and my professional and personal abilities. This goal was especially important to me. Two years ago, I suffered from a burn out due to personal circumstances. While I had already recovered from this difficult period, I still often felt insecure about my own abilities, especially in relation to a future career.

My other three goals relate more to my professional skills. First, I hoped to apply the theoretical knowledge acquired in my master in practice. My second goal was to develop specific professional skills, such as how to carry out a stakeholder analysis. Third, I wanted to further explore possible career paths.

4.2 Personal learning process during the placement

The previous chapter described in detail all the task and activities that I undertook in the four months of my placement. I am proud of everything that I achieved. However, when I started my placement I was less confident about my ability to accomplish this.

I started my placement completely online and met all my new colleagues via Webex. In the first few weeks, I felt insecure about my performance and the progress I had made. I did not feel like I had a clear idea about what was expected of me as the subjects were very new to me. Furthermore, being alone behind the computer at home did not help either. I remember that I had the feeling that I already had to deliver great results in my first few weeks.

Fortunately, these feelings retreated more and more every week. When I presented my first results after three weeks, they were received very positively while I had been very insecure about my progress. This helped me realize that I had focused too much on the things I did not have yet, instead of on what I had already collected and accomplished. I started to notice that every single time I felt insecure about my work, those feelings proved ungrounded. These experiences helped me understand my tendencies to be too critical of myself.

In order to overcome these tendencies, I started writing down the positive feedback I received.

This helped me to be less critical of myself and gave me more insight into my own strengths

as well. For example, I often received positive feedback from my supervisor and other

colleagues about my ability to work independently, my social and analytical skills and my

proactive attitude. Now, I better see those strengths back when looking at all the tasks I

completed. Through continuous reflection, I gradually gained confidence and lost the fear of making mistakes. Now that I am at the end of my internship and at the beginning of starting my new job, I feel much more confident in myself and my abilities. This has been my greatest personal achievement during my placement.

My placement has also helped me achieve my other learning objectives, which relate more to my professional skills.

During my placement, I have gained a good understanding of the relations between my studies and the field in which RVO is active. As explained in the previous chapter, most of my placement tasks had an international focus or element. My academic IR knowledge and skills have helped me complete these tasks. During the interdisciplinary IR bachelor and master, I have learned to look at (international) issues from different perspectives. During my placement, I noticed how valuable it is to adopt this interdisciplinary point of view. I was able to use this knowledge for the LIFE program analyses. By incorporating economic, social and moral viewpoints of different international stakeholders, I was able to form a more

comprehensive analysis on the European policy documents. Furthermore, this broad view helped me to better analyze the diverse issues and questions around the global transition to sustainable mobility. For example, during the IADM team meetings I was quick to point out the importance of incorporating adjacent areas of sustainable mobility in the IADM program, such as transitions in energy systems and the built environment.

Another example of theoretical knowledge from my studies that I have been able to use are research related skills. For instance, during the two IR master research seminars I gained much knowledge about how to conduct and analyze interviews. Because of this, I was better able to perform the IADM interview tasks.

Conversely, the practical tasks and experiences during my placement have also added to my academic IR knowledge. For example, I have learned much about transition theories during my work for the IADM program. These transition theories help explain how we can come to radical transformations in our society, such as a sustainable transition. Such knowledge is both theoretically and practically relevant when trying to find solutions to all kinds of (global) issues.

Furthermore, I have developed several professional skills thanks to the broad range of tasks and the collaborations with different colleagues. This includes very specific knowledge, for example on how to create a stakeholder analysis. But it also includes more general

knowledge. For example, by actively participating in the IADM program, I learned more on

how to communicate and function in a professional environment and team. Furthermore, I

gained knowledge about the broader policy field of sustainability. For example, I have seen

how national and international climate pacts, agreements and rules are converted to actual on-

the-ground actions.

4.3 Impact placement on career path

My placement has also helped me to explore possible career paths and find out what kind of work field and environment matches my interests and skills. Moreover, I decided to start my first job in the ROM department. There are several reasons for this.

First of all, I have gotten to know RVO as a dynamic and interesting working environment.

The reason for this is that RVO operates at the interface between policy and implementation.

In my opinion, this position brings together the most interesting elements of both worlds.

RVO works for, and with, a large variety of one-the-ground stakeholders such as companies, citizens, NGO’s and knowledge institutions. During my tasks for the IADM program, I found out that this is a very strategic and interesting role as it requires bringing together many different interests. Furthermore, RVO plays an important advisory role in policymaking through its close collaborations with the ministries. I have found out that this adds an interesting and challenging political dimension. For example, I attended several meetings between RVO colleagues and policymakers at the ministries. Here I gained insight into the challenges of connecting high-over politics to actual daily life in society. My colleagues played an important role in these discussions with their practical expertise on for example sustainable innovations and business climates.

Second, by working on the IADM program I have developed a specific interest in the

(international) field of sustainable mobility. Sustainable mobility is a central topic in our fight against climate change, and is therefore receiving more and more national and international attention. This has led to an enormous growth in innovations, international agreements and collaborations. The ROM department is actively involved in the latest developments, which makes for a challenging, diverse and fast-paced atmosphere. During my internship, I have noticed that this kind of atmosphere enthuses and energizes me. Furthermore, it matches my motivation to make a social contribution in my work.

Third, my placement has given me insight into the kind of work activities and tasks that match my skills and that I enjoy doing. I have learned that I get a lot of energy from teamwork and social, communicative and organizational tasks. Furthermore, I enjoy using my analytical skills. For example, during my placement it enthused me to perform research, to assess different issues and to solve problems while working together with a team.

After the first two months of my placement, I received a call from my manager about a job opening in the ROM department. She asked me whether I wanted to apply for this position. I was immediately very enthusiastic because of the abovementioned positive placement

experiences and the job description that matches with my interests and skills. The application procedure went very smoothly and quickly. I am going to start my new job the 11

of

January, right after the end of my placement.

I am going to work for the Transport Decarbonization Alliance (TDA). The TDA is an

international collaboration between countries, cities and companies with the goal to promote

sustainable mobility worldwide. The TDA has three ‘Communities of Interest’ (CoI), with the

aim to achieve tangible cooperation and action in different transport areas worldwide. I am

specifically going to work for the CoI of Active Mobility, which refers to cycling and

walking. This CoI was founded a few months ago. I will be part of a small team that is in charge of developing and leading this CoI. My tasks will include recruiting new international members, organizing meetings and international conferences, collecting relevant information on active mobility, giving presentations and more generally helping to shape ambitions and plans.

I am very excited to start with this new job. It brings together international cooperation,

sustainable mobility, policymaking and on-the-ground action. Furthermore, this function

allows me to use my social, analytical and organizational skills. And lastly, I contribute to a

clean and healthy world by promoting cycling and walking as modes of transport around the

world!

Conclusion

I did my placement during a very weird and unique period, due to the covid crisis. At the start of my placement I was afraid that working from home would prevent me from learning about the professional environment and building up connections with colleagues. Luckily, I have found out that you can achieve a lot online!

My placement has been a great experience that has taught me many things, ranging from knowledge about sustainability to professional skills and self-knowledge. I have gained general insight into the relation between theory and practice and the challenges of

international cooperation. I have also acquired very specific knowledge about the political and practical issues surrounding the transition to sustainable mobility. Furthermore, I am better aware of my own strengths and weaknesses in a professional environment and how to work with both sides. Most significantly, thanks to this placement I now have a job that I believe fits very well with my skills and interests.

I have encountered few difficulties, thanks to my supervisor and the great department where I did my placement. Therefore, I would also recommend RVO, and specifically the ROM department, to other future IR placement students. The ROM department is often interested in placement students, but usually does not place vacancies online. Therefore, I would advise to get into contact with the department via LinkedIn, RUG alumni or other contacts.

Furthermore, RVO is a very broad organization with a wide variety of programs. When sustainable mobility is not directly in your line of interest, there is probably another department that does match your (international) area of interest. In any case, I am always available for questions!

Lastly, I want to thank the IR bachelor and master department. I have always enjoyed my IR

studies and during this placement I have also seen that my education has prepared me very

well for a job in this sector.